IE 286 

P87 
1876 
I Copy 1 



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Book. 



ADDRESS 



BY 



B. PLATT CABPENTER 



AT THE 



GENTEIIAL CELEBRATION, 



POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y., 



ON THE 



FOURTH DAY OF JULY, 1876. 



POUGHKEEPSIE 
1876. 



ADDRESS 



B. PLATT CARPEI^TER 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, 



POUaHKEEPSIE, N. Y. 



FOURTH DAY OF JULY, 1876. 



POUGHKEEPSIE: 

1876. 



I'src^ 






ADDRESS. 



Mr. President and Fellow-Citizens : 

ON the fourth day of July, one hundred years ago, 
thirteen sparsely populated colonies, acting through 
their representatives in general Congress assembled, and 
publishing to the world a statement of the causes that 
impelled the separation, absolved their allegiance to the 
British Crown, and declared themselves free and inde- 
pendent states. In commemoration of that event, the most 
important in the history of civil government, forty millions 
of people, embraced within the domain of the United States 
of America, join to-day in national jubilee. At the divid- 
ing line between the century that has chronicled the birth, 
the trials and the greatness of the Republic, and the one 
now opening bright with promise, a review of tlie past shall 
be alike the source of pleasurable emotions and of bene- 
ficial lessons for guidance in the future. 

The system of government which our forefathers estab- 
lished was not the result of foolhardy experiment. Men of 
intelligence and reflection are not apt to pledge their lives, 
their fortunes and their sacred honor merely from caprice 
or in a spasm of temerity. They calculated the operation 
of moral forces, from data supposed to be trustworthy, 
with the same precision with which the astronomer predicts 
an eclipse. The eff'ect of political causes may be foretold 



with approximate accuracy by those conversant with public 
affairs, and with the motives and inlluences that prompt 
men to a particular course in a given state of circumstances, 
and in so far as intelligence and judgment are wanting in 
the projector, to that extent failure marks the desired con- 
summation. 

The colonists entered upon the great revolutionary strug- 
gle with a common purpose and a united effort. There was 
an amalgamation of distinct tastes and divergent opinions 
into an homogeneous whole. The three millions of people 
who established their right to self-government, drew their 
inspiration from Plymouth Rock, the banks of the James 
and the mouth of the Hudson, and represented the auster- 
ity, the chivalry and the steadfastness of our early American 
ancestry. Fugitives from religious intolerance in the land 
of their nativity, a little band of pilgrims, bringing firm 
convictions and a dauntless courage, sought in the new 
world freedom of worship. They realized the fruition of 
their hopes as to religious freedom, but long enslaved by 
hereditary narrowness they failed to extend it to others. 
Time, however, with its changes and compensations has 
finally established, at the very base of Plymouth Rock, a 
liberalism that scarcely exists elsewhere upon the continent. 
Whether this be the outgrowth of the early professions 
which seem inconsistent with the practice of the puritans, 
it is not our province to inquire. The spirit of independ- 
ence that caused them to be dissenters in the Church would 
naturally lead them to rebel against injustice in the State. 
The colonists upon the James were led by the spirit of 
adventure, and the anticipated gains of commerce, to the 
wilds of the West. They never complained of religious 
intolerance at their old home, nor exercised it at the new. 



They were satisfied with a monarchy in Grreat Britain, and 
did not seek a republic in America. Their system of home 
government could neither partake of the nature of a hier- 
archy, nor be civilly oppressive to a people surrounded by 
all that was free. Midway, both in location and in doctrine, 
between these two extremes were the Dutch settlers of the 
Hudson river valley. Their phlegmatic temperament would 
enable them to endure a monarchy or enjoy a republic. 
Prudent and industrious, they made the strip of country 
which they inhabited a territory of unexampled prosperity. 
Thus, from three small settlements between the years 1607 
and 1620 — nuclei of the renowned cluster that dotted the 
land — sprang colonists that, after one hundred and fifty 
years of rapid increase, notwithstanding the frequent deci- 
mation of their ranks in the aboriginal and French wars, 
wrested constitutional liberty from one of the most formid- 
able military powers on the globe. They had, however, 
received the severest discipline in the school of actual expe- 
rience. Their muscles had' been hardened by toil to great 
endurance. Their minds, not enervated through excesses, 
had been stored with facts and principles. Their spirits 
had been nurtured to bravery by the necessary tutelage of 
their surroundings, so that in personal qualifications they 
could compensate for the lack both of military drill and the 
most approved equipments of war. They could look back 
to history and learn from example that an intelligent people 
struggling for right always outnumber a much larger force 
of aggressors ; and they felt that through the righteousness 
of their cause the battle was half won. 

The declaration of independence was a clear and candid 
statement of grievances which the colonists had endured, 
and of rights which they asserted. It was occasioned by 



6 

oppressive taxation, the enforcement of nnnsnal penalties, 
and a denial of participation in government to which 
implicit obedience was demanded ; although lying deeper 
as a cause, inasmuch as it contravened principles dear to 
the American heart and stripped man of his manhood, was 
the bold enunciation of the doctrine that '' Parliament had 
a right to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." The 
colonists held, by right of possession and by conquest from 
the original barbarous occupants, territory to which the 
mother country could not present a superior claim of dis- 
covery. While content to be treated as dependencies, and 
expecting ever to be faithful allies of the British Crown, 
they were unwilling to occupy the position of vassals. By 
reason of hardships imposed they were forced to anticipate 
an event which, through natural causes operating concur- 
rently with the kindest treatment, would have been inevit- 
able in half a century. It is absurd to suppose that a con- 
tinent, beaming with intelligence and zealous for progress, 
should forever remain subject to a small island of the sea. 
Nature had peculiarly titted North America for inde- 
pendent empire. With every resource of material produc- 
tiveness and healthful climate, a cultured race of inhabit- 
ants could soon become self sustaining, and eventually 
defy the world with their power. 

No body of men had ever been charged with weightier 
responsibilities than those which rested upon the immortal 
Colonial Congress, assembled for deliberation at Philadel- 
phia, in 1776. Eighteen months had elapsed since Massa- 
chusetts had been declared in rebellion. The voice of 
Chatham, of Burke, and of Camden, had been heard plead- 
ing eloquently, but in vain, for justice to the colonies. The 
bloody sacrifice at Lexington and Concord had spread its 



incense throughout the land and roused to instant activity 
a determined people, till then slumbering upon their rights. 
Ticonderoga had surrendered both her fortress and her 
treasure of supplies at the summons of the indomitable 
Allen. The battle ground of Bunker Hill, sanctified by the 
blood of the peerless Warren, was of itself an enduring 
monument of the superiority of ill-equipped provincials 
over the gayly-caparisoned British regulars. Already the 
war had been carried beyond the conftnes of the colonies, 
and the valiant Montgomery, successful at Montreal, had 
fallen in the disaster at Quebec. The Carolinas had been 
encouraged to renewed vigor by the magnificent repulse of 
the British at Fort Moultrie. Already alarmed at unex- 
pected resistance the King had sought to enforce his tyranny 
by employing the military power of the Duke of Brunswick, 
and hiring conscripts from the sordid landgrave of Hesse 
Cassel. Already the floating property of the patriots had 
been declared confiscated, and Congress, in April, had vir- 
tually asserted the independence of the colonies by opening 
their commerce to the world and abolishing the British cus- 
tom houses. From the 7th day of June, when Richard 
Henry Lee ofTered the celebrated resolution, " That these 
colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent 
states," a continuing scene of grandeur was enacted in 
Independence Hall, culminating in the adoption of the great 
declaration. The renown that shall cling to the names of 
the actors in that scene shall be more enduring than the 
parchment upon which the history of their deeds is written, 
or the marble upon which the event is inscribed. John 
Adams, taking the lead in debate, pleaded for immediate 
independence with an eloquence as vehement and irresist- 
ible as that which, pouring torrent-like from the lips of 



8 

Demostlienes, "had nerved the Athenians to a last struggle 
against Philip, while by his side, with eqnal boldness and 
fervor, stood Lee and Eutledge, Jefferson, Franklin, and 
the vigorous John Hancock. It is not strange that deliber- 
ation should have preceded the 2d of Jnly. Every breast 
was animated with the same noble spirit and the same deter- 
mination to resist tyranny. There is always a time to 
deliberate, and a time to strike, and well may caution be 
exercised before risking life upon a single blow. Within a 
year there had been a general disclaimer of intention to 
separate from Great Britain. There had been no complaint 
as to the form of government, and until within a few months 
no expressed desire for independence. Petition and remon- 
strance having proved alike unavailing, a step had been 
taken from which the colonists could recede neither with 
honor nor with safety. To encourage the patriots was the 
example of the barons wresting from the despicable King 
John the great charter of English liberty. They had read 
of John Hampden and his noble compeers, whose resistance 
to the avarice of Charles I. had led to the commonwealth. 
A century had not passed since the blood of Sidney and 
Russell had stirred a popular feeling that resulted in the 
revolution of 1688, and the bill of rights from the re-estab- 
lished house of Stuart. They were not unmindful of the 
successful struggle of the Seven United Provinces against 
the power of Spain, and the fruit of their sanguinary resist- 
ance to Louis XIV. Little Switzerland, freed from the dom- 
ination of the house of Hapsburgh, had been for over four 
hundred years a conft del ate republic. In addition to the 
teachings of history, almost every colony had declared for 
independence. On the other hand, in point of numbers and 
resources, the contest setmed unequal. It was the opinion 



of some that suffering should be endured until the prepon- 
derance of the world's sympathy should add moral weight 
to the cause. To others it seemed indispensable that an 
alliance should be perfected with the natural enemies of the 
British Crown, and that France should be committed to our 
support. The kindly interest of Vergennes, and the pleas- 
ant predictions of Turgot, had led them to expect aid from 
France and Spain through Louis XVI. and Charles III. 
The result of all the discussion was unanimity on the part 
of those acting, the more remarkable and praiseworthy as 
the latest advices from G-en. Washington had depicted the 
deplorable condition of the army. The record of their judg- 
ment, given form and comeliness by the pen of Jefferson, 
and approved, without dissent, on the 4th day of July, 
created a new power among the nations. A name was given 
to Republican America to be known in all lands, and a flag 
to protect her commerce on all seas. Tlius treaties could 
be made, alliances formed, and commerce regulated by a 
political organization, worthy of recognition and competent 
to contract. On the IStli day of November, 1777, after the 
gloomiest period of the revolution, the articles of confed- 
eration were adopted by Congress, subject to ratification by 
the States. Then, after the varied successes and vicissitudes 
of war, the triumph of American arms was assured by the 
surrender of Cornwallis, on the 19th day of October, 1781. 
The final treaty of peace was signed at Paris on the 3d day 
of September, 1783, and on the 4th day of March, 1789, the 
federal constitution, under which the republic has grown 
to its present greatness, became the supreme law of the 
land. For the adoption of that constitution, agreed upon 
as the compromise of various plans, the gratitude of man- 
kind is largely due to Han^iltpn, Madison and Jay. Thus, 



10 

in the brief space of twenty yt^rs, resistance to nnjust tax- 
ation had enlisted a people, desiring neither a change of 
government nor of rulers, and hurried them on to revolu- 
tion, independence and republicanism. Only a republican 
form of government could be satisfactory to the people. 
The name of King suggested George III.; of Emperor, a 
standing army and ruinous taxation ; of President elected 
for life, only another name for monarchical authority. The 
corner stone of the nev^ government was the equality of all 
men under the law, and especial rights and privileges to 
none. The step from independent nationality to independ- 
ent citizenship was natural and inevitable. Here was in- 
corporated into law the substance of liberty that an Athen- 
ian archon or a Roman consul had never dreamed of, nor 
soothsayer of any age predicted. 

A nation unlike the sun, never rises nor sets without a 
struggle. In tlie case of the new born republic by the re- 
sult only could it be determined whether Great Britain was 
an unnatural mother, or the colonies undutiful children, and 
in the eyes of the world success vindicated the right of the 
latter to all they had claimed. Washington was elevated 
to the highest position of state. He had carried the Ameri- 
can cause to triumph, and now in peace was the Solon and 
the Aristides of civil government, as he had been both the 
Fabius and the Scipio in arms. The American army, that 
with a rash or timid commander would have melted under 
the rays of the first summer sun, was preserved by his judg- 
ment and grew under his protection. Never drawing his 
sword for conquest nor through personal ambition, but bat- 
tling only for the defense or establishment of right, his career 
lacked no capstone to complete the pyramid of its glory. 
Other conquerors had rested with sullied fame or a divided 



11 

people. Those who had sought glory through blood had 
suddenly paused before the pinnacle was reached. Han- 
nibal, neglecting to complete his conquest after the. 
bloody field of Cannse, permitted good fortune to escape 
and died by his own hand in a foreign country. Caesar, 
about to be crowned monarch of almost the known world, 
was assassinated in the senate chamber. Charles XII, in- 
vincible in arms as in ambition, finally met his Pultowa. 
Washington, superior to them all, retired with the affections 
of his countrymen, the esteem of mankind, and with a name 
upon which glows the world's brightest lustre. The future 
historian shall say of him that he was the greatest man of 
any age or country. With Washington as the central 
figure, other names were not wanting to constitute an inimi- 
table cluster. Even the women sacrificed affection to patriot- 
ism, as many a mother, with only such jewels as Cornelia 
possessed, sent forth her son with the Spartan injunction to 
return with his shield, or upon it. France, from whatever 
cause, contributed much, and not least, the noblest soul in 
all her realm, who occupies near to Washington a place in 
the hearts of the American people, and the liberty-loving 
portion of monarchical Europe shall ever be entitled to 
thanks for Lafaj^ette, Kosciuszko and Steuben. 

National independence, thus achieved, was soon to 
undergo a severe trial. Within twenty years after the com- 
plete formation of the republic, the British orders in council 
had driven our commerce from the seas, and were rapidly 
unmanning the American navy. The depression to enter- 
prise and repeated insults to national dignity becoming 
intolerable, in June, 1812, war was declared against Great 
Britain, and the questions to be decided were, whether an 
American vessel in free waters was part of our national 



12 

domain, and whether the flag of the Republic should pro- 
tect its floating as well as its stationary territory. Then it 
was that America achieved her flrst celebrity upon the 
water, while upon land Wellington's heroes, fresh from their 
victories in the Peninsular war, evinced no superiority over 
the republican soldier. On the 8th day of January, 1815, 
the victory at New Orleans put an end to military opera- 
tions, and the nation gained its important point through the 
persuasion of arms, although treaties were silent. Again it 
was the good fortune of the Republic that France was an 
actor in the great drama. The mighty Napoleon, if not the 
conqueror, was certainly the terror of Europe. In order to 
maintain for her own protection an equilibrium of powers, 
it became necessary for Great Britain, as a component part 
of the pan -European alliance, to hurl against Napoleon the 
force that otherwise would have aided her haughty usurpa- 
tion in America. Except for a brief expedition against the 
North African powers, which infested the Mediterranean 
with their piracies, the United States have since been at peace 
with the eastern hemisphere. 

With our subsequent growth and expansion, it now seems 
safe to predict that there will be no serious interruption of 
peace from a foreign source. Soldiers formidable as antag- 
onists could come only from Europe or the British Isles. 
A fleet of the required capacity for aggressive warfare could 
hardly withstand both the fury of the waves and the attack 
of monitors. The Republic, although extending from ocean 
to ocean, is, by means of the telegraph and the railroad, 
much more compact than was the single State of New York 
at the time of the revolution. No armament could attempt 
to land upon our shores without meeting a superior oppos- 
ing force at almost any given point. To a power thus pro- 



13 

tected from invasion annoyance may come, but danger can 
only arise from internal discord. 

The Union has just passed through its greatest peril, and 
it is beyond dispute that there were months when the way 
was dark and the result uncertain. Since the War of 1812 
the growth of the Republic *had been so rapid and regular 
that it seemed impossible for any thing to retard its progress 
or endanger its permanency. In November, 1832, the mis- 
chievous spirit of disunion appeared in South Carolina. It 
was based upon the political heresy that the States were 
sovereign, and the Union simply a confederacy from which 
a State could withdraw at pleasure. The question as to 
paramount authority has now passed beyond argument, 
having forever been settled by the result of the war. The 
pretext for nullification was the tariff of 1828, which was 
alleged by the cotton-planters to be destructive of their in- 
terests. By the patriotism and unyielding firmness of Jack- 
son, the disunion sentiment of South Carolina was prevented 
from developing into treason, but the political doctrine there 
taught spread throughout the South, and awaited only for 
strength and opportunity to sustain and legitimate itself. 
Discussion and legislation were soon directed to the matter of 
the extension or limitation of the boundaries of African slav- 
ery, an institution which the dominant race in the Southern 
States believed indispensable to public prosperity. It is not 
strange that a people accustomed to enforce implicit obedi- 
ence upon their own plantations should become haughty 
and little disposed to brook opposition elsewhere. To main- 
tain slavery within the borders of their own States, they de- 
sired to extend its area, and they did not hesitate to an- 
nounce the doctrine that property in human flesh was the 
same as property in beasts of burden to be protected by 



14 

government wherever its flag should wave. The anti-slavery 
Lgitation had already commenced at the North, but there 
vas only a moral force within narrow limits behind it. 
^Vhen, however, the obnoxious fugitive slave law was 
snacted among the compromise measures of 1850, the Abo- 
itionists were roused to greater zeal, and those who had 
)een willing to recognize and protect the existing institu- 
ions of the land objected to being used as instruments for 
eturning to bondage any human being whose only oft'ense 
vas the love of liberty. In May, 1854, the passage of the 
Lct organizing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and 
ibrogating the compromise of 1820, produced an intense 
ixcitement of the popular mind, and thoughtful men coun- 
eled immediate resistance to the encroachments of the 
lave power. Then came the notorious Dred Scott decision, 
vhich declared the unfortunate negro race to be without 
ights in a free country. Against this doctrine, ably stated 
)y an able Chief Justice, and yet so seemingly at variance 
dth the intention of the founders of the republic, arose the 
ndignant protest of the entire North. On the 17th day of Oc- 
ober, 1859, the fanatical John Brown, with twenty -one de- 
uded followers, attacked Harper's Ferry, in the belief that 
he colored people would flock to his standard, and that 
nsurrection would be followed by emancipation. The 
•esult of this raid demonstrated that there was no more 
ianger of a servile insurrection than of the rising of the 
Dlantations themselves. The occurrence, however, was 
;eized upon with avidity to further inflame the Southern 
3assions, while at the North was strengthened the deter- 
nination to prevent the extension of slavery over another 
nch of free territory. The cry of abolition as a means of 
jmbittermcJit had now so effectively been used throughout 



15 

the South that no concession, short of absolute surrender, 
could prevent an overt attempt to dissolve the Union and 
establish a separate government. After the election of 
Abraham Lincoln in 1860 until his inauguration in March, 
1861, James Buchanan, who hesitated to crush the seeds of 
rebellion lest he might violate the constitution, continued 
to act as President, and emboldened by his timidity disloyal 
secretaries wielded for months a nation's power against 
itself. When Lincoln became President seven States had 
seceded, so far as their own political action could accom- 
plish that result, and four others were about to follow their 
example. On the 12th day of April, 1861, the bombard- 
ment of Fort Sumter was commenced, and the opening scene 
of fratricidal carnage was observed with more formality 
than had marked the dedication of the temple of American 
liberty. On the 14th Sumter fell, and the next day the 
President issued a proclamation calling seventy-five thou- 
sand soldiers to the field. That proclamation convinced 
an incredulous North that rebellion actually existed, and 
an incredulous South that the Northern States had deter- 
mined to maintain at all hazards the integrity of the Union. 
But the die had been cast, and sectional pride took counsel 
of desperation rather than of judgment. The belief up to 
that time had largely obtained in one section that if the 
South stood firm and unyielding the North would not resort 
to force, and in the other that the South would not com- 
mence open hostilities. Everywhere throughout the North 
was an abhorrence to shedding fraternal blood. A small 
number whose political action had been in harmony with 
that of Southern leaders, were reluctant to sever their 
pleasant relationship. Some desired to say, " Wayward 
sisters, depart in peace;" but the administration having 



16 

the general government in charge inisted that there should 
be no permanent departure from allegiance or duty in the 
sisterhood of States. The effect of disintegration in pro- 
ducing wars likely to ensue, the danger to future security 
and commercial prosperity from complications with adjoin- 
ing States, and the degradation of a great republic from a 
first to a second-class power, were considerations of con- 
trolling weight. The same Union-loving spirit that sus- 
tained Jackson in 1832, caused the people to extend their 
strong arm to the aid of Lincoln in 1861, So at the lirst call 
for troops the great North rose almost as one man to vindi- 
cate the judgment ot our forefathers in their establishment 
of a constitutional republic. To the assertion that Congress 
had no right to coerce a State, was answered from the can- 
non' s mouth the maxim, undisputed since the days of the 
expelled Tarquinius, "The safety of the republic is the 
supreme law," Requisition after requisition was issued 
until at one time nearly a million names were on the muster 
rolls of the federal army. The blood offering was suf- 
ficiently copious to crimson a continent, and treasure poured 
forth in such abundance as to appall one ignorant of the 
value of union ; yet none paused to estimate in blood or 
treasure the cost of victory, for liberty is priceless. 

In April, 1865, by the dispersion of the chief civil officers 
of the confederacy, and the surrender of Lee's brave army, 
the rebellion was virtually crushed. In the very hour of re- 
joicing, and while a nation was preparing for peaceful slum- 
ber, almost the first for four long years, Abraham Lincoln fell 
a victim to the assassin' s bullet. Few were the eyes that 
wept not, for the republic was bereft, and all were mourners 
at his tomb. He who had been president through all the 
rebellionj and seen its last embers wane and die ; he whose 



17 

character had won the conhdence, as his patriotism had 
the love of the people, was best qualified to heal the gaping 
wounds of war and. mark out the delicate pathway to rec(m.- 
ciliation. Never looking up to heraldry, nor down upon 
virtue, brave but gentle, wise without pedantry, ilrni yet 
tender, he was the noblest child of the republic, of which 
history shall record him as the savior. But he fell, the last 
and greatest sacrifice to a barbarous system that the war 
has eradicated. In a republic with an army nearly a mil- 
lion strong, the highest civil officer dies, but the government 
moves on in its appointed work without a ripple. In 
ancient Kome or early England, that army within a week 
would have proclaimed a king, an emperor, or a military 
dictator, and parceled out the spoils of war, and perhaps the 
property of the realm. Here the firmest friends of the consti- 
tuted civil authority were the soldiers. Here the mighty 
armed force disband, without disturbance or commotion, 
and return to their ordinary civil vocations with so much 
quietude and serenity that within a month after the rebel- 
lion one would have had to learn from history that war had 
existed. Toward those brave men in arms a nation's grat- 
itude should never wane. Most fitly has a day been de- 
voted to the memory of the fallen, when pious hands, 
unable with garlands to deck their living brows, may strew 
their peaceful graves with flowers. 

In the enjoyment of perfect national tranquillity, and at 
peace with the world, it may not be improper calmly to 
consider the results of the recent conflict and determine 
whether the benefits secured do not far outweigh the woes 
inflicted. Under authority given by Congress, the year 
1863 opened with a proclamation by President Lincoln 
abolishing slavery in the disaffected territory. The effect 



18 

)f this action was put beyond question by a constitutional 
imendment applying to all tlie national domain, and going 
nto operation tlie 18th day of December, 1865. Tliis soon 
^eino" followed by the fourteenth amendment, four million 
're'edmen entered upon a new life, and bowed to no supe- 
rior in rights and immunities. The potent cause and sole 
pretext of the rebellion thus forever was removed as a dis- 
:urbino- element in the nation. The lesson inculcated by 
[his new dispensation shall not be forgotten by fom enters 
3f discord so long as history shall be read'upon the earth. 
Property in human flesh had been recognized in the great 
republic last among all the powers of the enlightened globe, 
and monarchical Europe could point with scorn to our pre- 
tensions, and with abhorrence to our practices. To-day the 
sun in his circuit above us smiles upon a land oppressed by 
no tyrant and cursed by no slave, and the republican spirit 
of other lands shall take fresh courage and new hope as it 
points with pride to our own free country, purified as by 
lire and washed of its last stain. A better understanding 
between the different sections already exists, and the nation 
in its new life, unable to find even a pretext for discord, 
shall soon outgrow the rancor of the past. It has been 
fully demonstrated that a government founded upon the 
consent of the governed is stronger to repel invasion or 
quell insurrection than one sustained by arbitrary power. 
Every citizen here to-day has ground for the belief that this 
republic, since the attempted disruption, is so firmly united 
and cemented that nothing but the hand of God could strike 
it from the earth. Who then shall say that the late rebel- 
lion, notwithstanding the many precious lives that we 
mourn, and the enormous debt entailed, was not the one 
thing needful to perpetuate for all time the institutions 
which we cherish ? 



19 

There are, nevertheless, resulting from the civil w^ar, some 
evils from which full relief is yet to come. The- necessities 
of the army created the opportunity by which shrewd spec- 
ulators and avaricious agents could reap immense profits 
from articles of commerce. Upon the return of peace, 
another class, mistaking the bubble of inflation for sub- 
stan(5e, rapidly increased in wealth by the apparent rise in 
the value of property. Extravagance followed the posses- 
sion of unaccustomed wealth, and proper style must be 
maintained by the less favored, even though dishonest prac- 
tices be resorted to, and thus public morality deteriorated 
below its ancient standaid. The people permitted extrava- 
gance to assume the name of enterprise, and hesitated at no 
recklessness of expenditure, particularly if a draft could be 
made upon the future ; and, acting collectively in all their 
civil and corporate divisions, they appropriated immense 
sums both for works of supposed utility, and works of em- 
bellishment. Whenever the investment promised no return, 
the progressive preacher would say, "Cast thy bread upon 
the waters ; for thou shalt find it after many days." For 
years, the popular mind was concerned mainly with a 
proper reorganization of the government. The only ques- 
tion propounded in regard to an officer or candidate was, 
"Is he loyal "i" The masses did not assume the role of 
detectives, and thus pretenders with a loyal shout occa- 
sionally reached positions to which modest virtue did not 
aspire. The wildness of the popular mind has now almost 
vanished. Extravagance shall yield to the depreciation 
which it has produced. Burdensome taxation shall make 
honesty and economy the political watchwords. The de- 
moralizing evils of the last decade shall easil}^ be corrected 
in the coming one. 



20 

There are some minor annoyances which extreme pru- 
dence cannot prevent. Since the colonists first trod the 
Nortli American continent, the pioneers of civilization 
have battled with the original occupants for every inch of 
acquired territory. The I'ed man, like the savage beast of 
the forest, flees before constitutions and laws, still contest- 
ing at every outpost the aggressions of another race. 
Exhibiting of all mankind the noblest and the meanest 
traits he elicits by turns our admiration and our contempt. 
The present century shall witness his extinction, as the past 
has his decadence. In the meanwhile, statesmen, doubtful 
whether to exterminate by slaughter, or subdue with kind- 
ness, will strive in vain to solve the problem of proper 
treatment. Schemes for the annexation of all adjacent ter- 
ritory shall not be wanting in able advocates. The restless 
spirit of every country seeks for occupation and employ- 
ment The desire, however, for a preponderance or even 
an equilibrium of power, for the purpose of maintaining a 
peculiar institution, shall no longer drive sectional leaders 
to advocate the conquest of neighboring states. The aboli- 
tion of slavery has headed off the wars that would have 
been precipitated on the slightest pretext, for the annexa- 
tion of Cuba, Mexico and Central America. There is now 
more to be apprehended from the love of military glory 
that animates the breast of the soldier. Every man trained 
to arms, and whose life can be successful only as a field is 
given, naturally craves an opportunity to achieve distinc- 
tion in the service. The example of Alexander, and Csesar, 
and Napoleon, appeals with ten-fold power to the martial 
spirit of the young. Too frequently ambition smothers the 
patriotic sentiment that self is nothing compared with 
country. Thus the readiness with which the republic's 



21 

brave defenders discover a national affront indicates the 
alacrity with which they would hurl their might against a 
foreign foe. But from this source, harm can scarcely arise 
with a reasonable watchfulness of public affairs. 

Every citizen should devote some study to the science of 
government, and some attention to the machinery by which 
it is operated. The neglect to do this furnishes to the 
designing or pretentious politician an army of dupes. 
Men immersed in business spend but little time in separat- 
ing from the chaff of daily assertion, the few grains of 
truth which it contains, thinking that they can live, if others 
do, when by proper action they might make it more desira- 
ble for all to live. American independence is sufficiently 
national, but not enough individual. The fear of disap- 
probation causes many to float quietly down the stream to 
be swallowed in impure waters, when by reasonable effort 
the channel could be given a proper direction. The source 
of that stream is too often in personal selfishness, clouded 
from view by hazy representations of political or financial 
prosperity. Independence of political associations, how- 
ever, is barren of .good results. The government will al- 
ways be administered by one of two great political organi- 
zations, oscillating in the scale of popular strength, although 
names, issues and tactics may change. Herein is the beauty 
of the republican system, that whenever the party in power 
transcends the limits of good government, or is in any re- 
spect unfaithful to its trust, it yields to the quiet but irre- 
sistible force of the ballot, and without revolution or dis- 
turbance, transfers the reins of authority to other hands. 
Our safety consists in administration by a party accounta- 
ble to the people. The equal division of a trust between 
antagonistic organizations destroys all political responsi- 



22 

Dility, and creates a vicious system, of which the almost 
lecessary result is barter and corruption. Every citizen 
should prefer that official trusts should temporarily devolve 
upon the party he dislikes, to the selection from his own 
3f a dishonest agent to discharge them. It will long be a 
mooted question whether it is possible for honest political 
service and unusual personal enrichment to exist together. 
At the same time the tendency, and often the desire to mis- 
construe motives, particularly in times of political excite- 
ment, would cause any upright citizen of a sensitive nature 
:o hesitate to be concerned with matters in which others have 
1 common interest. 

In glancing at the history of republicanism in America 
for a hundred years, it is indeed strange that there are so 
few vices or causes of apprehension to be considered. That 
century has been the most progressive in the world's annals. 
Civil and religious liberty have marched hand in hand to 
their present triumph. The bigotry and intolerance that 
marked our earlier days have given way before growing 
reason and a more general enlightenment. Although Church 
and State are absolutely divorced, government still requires 
that every agent should invoke the Supreme Being to wit- 
ness his promise of fidelity to public trust, and a court of 
justice rejects truth not verilied by an oath. Such is the 
tribute that human law pays to the divine. The elevation 
of the common mind above the form to the substance of 
religion, and the social commingling of the dift'erent sects 
and denominations, have made it apparent that virtue is 
not confined to a single class, and that no barrier is effective 
against hypocrisy. Man abandons the weaknesses of nar- 
row minds, in proportion as his intellect rises and expands 
by general culture. There were many ripe scholars among 



23 

the revolutionary patriots, while with the masses much 
learning was impossible. The single volume of their period 
has grown into the magnificent library of to-day. The 
biographies of some of our ablest statesmen, who by per- 
severance overcame the disadvantages of their youth, indi- 
cate the slender opportunities of half a century ago. The 
State regards enlightened citizenship as its most reliable 
safeguard, and so abundant are present facilities, that a 
youth destitute of every thing else, can hardly escape a good 
elementary education at sixteen. Even in the settlement of 
new territory, the schoolmaster is at his post in advance of 
the children. But throughout the republic, the determina- 
tion that an adequate system of public instruction shall be 
maintained, is no stronger than the determination that the 
school-house of the State shall not be made the theater of 
proselytism. 

The means for rapid transmission of intelligence have 
undergone a marvelous change within two score years. 
Among all nations, civilized as well as savage, fires or con- 
trivances of wood upon the hill-tops, had been used to signal 
important events. When Franklin demonstrated the identity 
of lightning with electricity, he probably little dreamed that 
the fire of the heavens would be trained to do the bidding of 
man, and become the closest ally of an enterprising press. 
The utilization of the electric current, achieved by the united 
genius of various scientists, although the highest honor has 
properly been accorded to an American, has obliterated space 
b etween correspondents. Simultaneously with the magnetic 
telegraph, appeared phonographic characters, which permit 
an instant transfer of rapid speech to an enduring record. 
Printing, invented over four hundred years ago, was slow and 
laborious in its operations until the advent of the cylinder 



24 

press in 1847. Thus the magnetic telegraph, tlie phonographic 
alphabet, and the printing press, by their combined effort, so 
contribute to the dispatch of news, that an ukase dictated 
by the Czar of all the Russians at twelve o'clock to-day, 
30uld within an hour be issued in an extra edition of onr 
city dailies. 

The application of steam to the purposes of locomotion 
md manufactures has principally occurred within the 
memory of men now living. Many were the experiments 
xnd discouragements before a light steamboat could be pro- 
pelled from New York to Albany at the rate of five miles 
\n hour, and now those who crowd the floating palaces of 
midsummer praise without stint the genius of Fulton. Rail- 
roads, almost strangers forty years ago, now extend seventy- 
live thousand miles through the length and breadth of the 
[and. Except where falling water gives motion to a few 
wheels, the great dynamic efficiency of mechanical appli- 
iiices is supplied by steam. There is scarcely a manufac- 
ture, including the machinery by which it is made, that is 
not produced by steam power. The recent improvement in 
igricultural implements, mostly through American inven- 
tion, has increased ten-fold the availability of the soil for 
useful production. To a great extent, mental activity has 
been substituted for physical, and the laboring element has 
been raised from drudgery to intelligence. It is not unusual 
to hear among the workingmen, and upon moral, political 
or scientific subjects, discussions that would do credit to 
homes that fortune has favored. Machinery has thus taken 
the place of bone and sinew, and given intellect an oppor- 
tunity for its development. It has enhanced the demand 
for labor, mitigated its hardships, elevated its sphere, and 
increased its remuneration. Surely the delineation of the 



25 

steps in such universal advancement cannot be expected in 
a brief address, when volumes would be required. Not- 
withstanding this rapid stride in the useful arts, the student 
of aesthetics, except as he pauses to consult the Italian artist 
of the middle ages, skips more than twenty centuries, and 
turns to ancient Athens for the paragons of beauty and 
splendor in painting, in sculpture, in poetry, and in elo- 
quence, and it is doubtful whether the triumphs of the bril- 
liant and polished Greek shall be surpassed in any age or 

clime. 

In all the progress of the century, Dutchess county has 
furnished her full quota of genius, has cheerfully borne her 
allotment of the burden, and is entitled to share in the glory. 
Settled in the western part by the Dutch, about the close of 
the seventeenth century, and shortly afterward on the east- 
ern border by scions of English stock, there was among her 
inhabitants a happy commixture of the best blood. From 
the time of the French war until the termination of the late 
rebellion, her soldiers performed noble and patriotic service 
in the field. The first missionary work among the Indians 
was inaugurated by the Moravians within her borders. The 
British, under Sir Henry Clinton, held the county for a time 
in 1777. In January, 1788, the Legislature of the State con- 
vened at Poughkeepsie. In June, of the same year, a con- 
vention, of which Hamilton and Jay were members, assem- 
bled at the same place to consider upon the ratification of 
the federal constitution. The county has furnished to the 
federal government a cabinet officer and a minister to France, 
senators in Congress and judges of the Supreme Court ; to 
the State, a governor and lieutenant-governor, and high 
judicial officers; to the Church, eminent bishops; to the 
army, renowned generals ; and to science, literature and 



26 

listory, names that shall survive the race. Nowhere on the 
ace of tlie globe can be found a more intelligent, honest or 
'irtuous people. To recite a history of this county is not 
he purpose of to-day. It has, however, been intimated 
hat within a brief period the request of Congress will be 
nore than complied with by the appearance, from the pen 
)f one of her most gifted sons, of an elaborate and com- 
)lete history of the county of Dutchess. 

A new era, fellow-citizens, opens with to-day ! The 
epublic reared by your ancestors is delivered to you in its 
nil vigor and strength, and for the century its destinies 
,re confided to your guardianship. It is yours to 
njoy, yours to protect, yours to transmit. Your fathers 
uifered the deprivations and hardships — yours are the 
>enefit and the glory. You have succeeded to a heritage 
•f inestimal)]e value. You are w^ealthy in that greatest of 
.11 possessions — good government. For this, the true man 
^ill sacrifice life, property — all but honor. Wars have 
lesolated tbe earth to maintain political systems which have 
)oisoned the very soil upon which they have flourished, 
four system needs no standing army to protect it — it 
leeds only the virtue of the citizen. It is the grandest 
icheme of self-government that the human understanding 
ver conceived. Authority is intrusted to those deemed 
/orthy of it, and not to a lineage or name. No man is so 
)Owerful but that the arm of the law is more powerful than 
le — none so weak but that, in the vindication of his rights, 
le is as strong as the republic. The American mind has kept 
)ace with the rising standard of the civil authority, and has 
)een educated to distinguish between liberty and license, 
•etween a commonwealth and a communism. In no coun- 
ry does one hold by a hrmer title that which he possesses, 



27 

or own less the property of another. Your national ensign, 
representing the independence and might of the republic, 
exhibits from every mast-head and from every flag-staff, a 
moral power that has made tyrants tremble, and monarchies 
moi-e liberal throughout the world. Its height measures 
everywhere among the oppressed the elevation of their 
hopes and the strength of their courage. In the enjoyment 
of this vast heritage you are secure. There is, however, a 
desire among all to live with honor, and, passing away, to 
leave a good name behind. Men strive to accumulate 
wealth and honors, not without the hope that after-genera- 
tions, enjoying them, may speak their names with praise. 
Every consideration, therefore, appeals to you to preserve 
this great trust, with its quality impi-oved and its volume 
amplified, for those who may succeed you. If this grand 
sj'stem of government, through your vices, should fail of 
permanency, scarcely ten centuries could restore the freedom 
of to-day, as throughout Christendom would be accepted the 
decision that man, capable of governing others, is incom- 
petent to govern himself. The terrible effectiveness of 
machinery for human destruction has caused christian 
statesmen to raise their voices against war. Whenever dis- 
putes involving fearful consequences shall arise, the Ameri- 
can mind will look for a precedent rather to Geneva than to 
Gettysburgh. With a continuance of peace there can 
be scarcely a limit to progress. The Atlantic may yet be 
furrowed from New York to Liverpool in twice twenty-four 
hours. Invention may yet make it appear that the story 
of Daedalus, winging his way from Crete to Sicily, was less 
a fable than the vision of a prophet. The tide of immigra- 
tion shall not cease while America presents superior induce- 
ments to labor and enterprise, and extends her broad iegis 



28 

to the fugitive from oppression. The skill of the old world 
is thus added to the genius of the new. A broader culture 
shall teach the citizen that the path of honor is in the line 
of duty, and civil liberty shall be so intrenched in reason, 
and so guarded by countless volunteers, that no ambition 
of warriors can subvert, no deluge of barbarism overwhelm 
it. So this magnificent fabric of free institutions, with all 
its increase of splendor, shall pass to another century, and 
to a later generation of your descendants, with the blessings 
of a hundred years clustering around your memories. 



1 TRRARY OF CONGRESS 

■M 

011 801 788 Z 



